175,000 children around the world are diagnosed with cancer each year, and in the United States, more children die of cancer than any other disease. The disease is a seemingly unstoppable pandemic that attacks the cells. Naturally, many scientists and organizations work to raise money or find a cure. However, no event is quite like St. Baldrick’s.

In 2000, two friends named John Bender and Tim Kenny were dared by a colleague to give back in a creative way. So as the two were sitting in a pub enjoying a quiet St. Patrick’s day, they were hit with the idea to shave their heads for childhood cancer; thus, St. Baldrick’s was born.

This is the second year that BG has taken part in the widely known foundation, and participation levels have skyrocketed compared to last year.

“Last year, I let people shave their head the day of,” counselor Brian Linhart said. “This year however, there were so many people signed up that I had to turn people away the day of.”

This time last year, the faculty were fighting for ways to get the student population excited about the event. Fundraiser like “Stop the Fox” were put in place in an effort to raise money, and even though it was successful, we didn’t raise as much as we had hoped to.

Our goal for this year was five-thousand dollars, but we cashed in with an astounding 14,150.

“We included ‘Locks of Love’ in the party this year,” Linhart said. “Students who wanted to participate were also allowed to donate to that foundation and that escalated our progress a lot.”

According to Linhart student participation was higher than that of the staff, which contrasts the previous year. One member of the staff however, participated for the second time. Dean Stephen Kolodziej was honored to take part in the event.

“Helping find a cure for this disease is very important to me and my family,” Kolodziej said. “Anything we can do to help is a joy for us.”

Since Kolodziej has taken part before, it wasn’t as daunting of an experience for him as the first time. “It definitely gets easier,” Kolodziej said. “It’s a little weird to do it in front of a bunch of high school students the first time but it’s not as bad because people are interested in the event.”

St. Baldrick’s is a continual occurrence at our school now, and students are getting more and more excited about it as the years go by.

“It’s a wonderful way to give back to the community,” Kolodziej said. “Students should definitely be less hesitant about participating.”